UK Advertising Board Rules for Apple in Dispute over Thinnest Smartphone

Wednesday September 14, 2011 9:18 am PDT by Eric Slivka

As noted by TechCrunch, the United Kingdom's Advertising Standards Authority has ruled in favor of Apple in a dispute with Samsung over which manufacturer offers the thinnest smartphone for sale in the country. The dispute over which company could lay claim to the title for marketing purposes arose because of the Samsung Galaxy S II's form factor, which includes a sizable hump.

Samsung’s svelte new model is indeed thinner at certain points, measuring in at 8.71mm at its thinnest. It’s a considerable enough difference from the iPhone 4′s 9.3mm depth that it would’ve been a clear victory were it not for the Galaxy S II’s 9.91mm thick hump.

The ASA ruled that since the iPhone’s thickest point is thinner than the Galaxy S II’s thickest, Apple has the right to continue claiming the title.

Apple and Samsung are of course also locked in a series of much more important legal disputes centered around claims of patent and design infringement.

Related roundups: iPhone 5c, iPhone 5s, iPhone 6

Top Rated Comments

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SockRolid

Posted: 33 months ago

"My humps, my humps, my ugly Samsung humps..."

Rating: 26 Positives

bigcat318

Posted: 33 months ago

Thank god, I can finally rest easy tonight knowing which giant corporation produced the thinnest cell phone.

Rating: 20 Positives

Moonjumper

Posted: 33 months ago

You measure the height of a car according to roof height, not bonnet height. It is the same with phones, measure to the thickest point.

Rating: 19 Positives

bigjnyc

Posted: 33 months ago

It's getting pretty ugly between these 2 companies now.

Rating: 17 Positives

miknos

Posted: 33 months ago

Apple could make a tiny chin and say the iPhone is 1mm thick.

Rating: 14 Positives

DeeEss

Posted: 33 months ago

Seriously, this long standing bitch fight between these two companies is tiresome and childish.

Please - STOP

Rating: 13 Positives

dethmaShine

Posted: 33 months ago

Seems a little arbitrary. Why not just average the thickness of the entire device, and use that?

Is that a joke?

Rating: 10 Positives

AnthonyHarris

Posted: 33 months ago

The only way the iPhone could possibly become thinner would be to give it a larger footprint. Since the Android handset already has a larger footprint, they'd hardly be winning any design awards even if it WAS thinner. Apple are masters in compact design and have paved the way for other company's in reality. It's just a shame that many people scoff and say "Apple didn't create touch screen technology", or "hmm yeah, the phone was invented in 2007"... Because if it wasn't for Apple we would still have lagging interfaces like the Prada phone. They might not have invented the wheel, but they sure as hell perfected it.

Rating: 9 Positives

bmms8

Posted: 33 months ago

i agree that it should be looked at the thickest points. those humps add thickness to the device. all measurements should be given that way.

Rating: 9 Positives